183 Break Through

182 She Waits for Spring

She sits on top of the cabinet with flowers in arms waiting to dig her hands in the dirt and garden.It will be a while, yet.  Cold and snow whip around  the house and and ice fields build up where the garden sits. I can wait for spring. Winter is a fine time to cook hearty soups and stews, revel in snow days and page through the seed catalogues.

181 Colors & Textures: The Cozy Quilt

It snowed last night, rained this morning and the wind picked up this evening. I think the only place to really be on a crappy winter day is under the cozy quilt.

180 Faucets

This is the reason Rich took a load of laundry to his parent's house. Neither the washer or dryer are hooked up. Last week the perimeter of basement floor was saw cut and for the past two days several guys hauled up old cement and dirt for the waterproofing system. 

179 Winter Dawn HDR

People who know me well, know that I am not much of a morning person, so a photo of the sunrise is a bit of surprise. It's one of those great ideas, the only down side being out of the house before dawn. It is a little easier to be up for dawn in the winter when sunrise is at 7:15. Today I crawled out of my cozy warm bed very early to catch up on some overdue work and it occurred to me I was actually awake and dressed, and I could make it to the spot I've been wanting to photograph for a couple months. 

178 Checks & Stripes

177 Law & Gospel

In Lutheran theology the first use of the law is defined as what keeps good order in the world. The second use of the law is that it very pointedly shows us our faults and failing, thus driving us to our knees before the cross in repentance. Words that signal the law is at work are should and must. The gospel is God's grace. It is the free gift, unexpected and undeserved. It is God's great abundance given to us.

This winter I've had chapped lips that leave me looking like a clown on bad days. My friend Yvonne sent me a package of law and gospel. The law says I must take care of my lips and I should use the Bistex, all rather dull and sometimes stinging when I put it on. The gospel says be healed with sparkly chocolate flavored lip goo. 

176 Too Much Information

Rich and I had a grand adventure that began with me doing a genealogy search and discovering some new information on ancestors. One piece of information listed an ancestor as living in Allen township, Northampton County in the 1790 census. On the off chance he owned property I tagged along with Rich to the Recorder of Deeds office. I didn't find the name listed so he didn't own property here. After the courthouse we had lunch at Panera's, then coffee at Barnes & Noble.

175 Flannel Quilt

174 Window

173 Candy Sticks

172 Church Meeting

171 Soup Making

On a normal Sunday we go to church, have coffee at Wegman's then do grocery shopping. When we get home, the groceries are put away and usually Rich practices his guitar and I take a nap. This Sunday was not usual. I decided to make some tomato sauce and Mushroom Barley soup for later in the week. Tuesday the guys will come to saw cut the basement floor for the waterproofing system. Too much dust for simmering  soup and sauce. The first step for any soup is mirepoix; diced celery, onions and carrots diced which are then sauteed. 

170 Words

This is why I wouldn't want a stainless steel refrigerator. The words wouldn't stick to it. All these magnetic words find their place on the freezer door. Every now and then they get arranged into lines of almost sentences. Poetry in motion.

169 Winter Windmill

My attempt to capture an image like Ansel Adams at f22 and a red digital filter. It was a cold day; bright sky, brilliant snow and wind chill that can't be seen in the picture.

168 Chardonnay

In the corner of our kitchen is a dream of flowers in the garden and vineyards in France.

167 Copier

Some may claim we are killing a tree for Jesus each January as the church office sends out the annual reports, multi-page weekly bulletins, and stewardship mailings.

166 Tea Time

165 Scissors

164 Snow Shovel

The deal was that I put away the groceries and Rich would shovel the walk after yesterday's snow.

163 Lantern

162 Salt & Pepper

I was playing with Photoshop Elements. 

161 It was not a good day

Three pieces of bad news, multiple website crashes during the updating process and severely chapped lips conspire against me. It was not a good day.

160 Old Rose

January rain, freezing rain, and roses are long, long past their bloom. 

159 Jar of Beans

158 He Peaks Around the Corner

157 Another Sunday Supper

Sunday supper in our house is, shall we say, as simple as it can possibly be. Sunday mornings are are high energy and usually followed by second breakfast (coffee and a muffin) and grocery shopping at Wegman's. If there is visit to be made, Rich gets sent home with the groceries and I head out to the hospital or nursing home. I've learned that once I make it home the chances of me leaving are slim to none as the Sunday afternoon nap takes over. Sunday supper, by necessity, needs to be simple. In this case supper is as simple as sauteing diced chicken, adding salsa, wrapping it in a tortilla with cheddar cheese. 

156 Button, Button

155 Sam and Me

We were invited to the Boors for a small Christmas get together. It was time for Rich and I to spend time with good friends around the fire and it was an opportunity for Sam and I to play with the camera. Here's the shot of two of us. 

These are the pictures Sam took; a plate of apples we cut and he arranged, and the fire in the fireplace. 

154 Out with the old, in with the new

In this case it was in with the new and eventually, out with the old. The old furnace, partially dismantled is on the left and the new furnace on the far right. Brand new to the house is the hot water heater which came online the evening of December 26 and was fully initiated the very next morning with seven showers and a load of laundry. Guess who had the last shower? 

153 Cold Statue

It's so cold that even statues need a hat and scarf.